Positive activity interventions help fight depression
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By Maria Cendejas
Wednesday Jan 4, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Doing something nice for someone else leaves people feeling good and positive about themselves, according to Healthday News.
But does that mean that random acts of kindness has scientifically proven therapeutic value in treating mood disorders like depression?
Yes, according to research that has found that "positive activity interventions" (like helping someone with groceries or writing a thank you note.) can serve as a low-cost and effective treatment for depression.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California at Riverside, who co-authored a recent paper on the topic, said, "They seem really trivial. They seem like, what's the big deal, you feel good for 10 minutes. But for a depressed person, they aren't trivial at all. Depressed individuals need to increase positive emotions in their life, even a minute here and there."
After reviewing the research on the therapeutic benefits of positive emotion, Lyubomirsky said,“ My colleagues and I found common support for the notion that people that were leaning toward depression can help themselves by helping other people or introducing positivity into their day-to-day lives.”
It's so simple and it’s a low-cost path to well-being could have big-time implications. More than 100 million people in the world suffer from depression, according to the study by Lyubomirsky, which included more than 16 million U.S. adults of whom 70% reported that they did not receive enough treatment or didn’t get treated at all.
Positive activity interventions come in a variety of forms as well as:
Being nice to others
Expressing how grateful you are
Thinking positively
Meditating on the good things in life
"The major aspect is the positive emotion. The most significant feature of depression is the absence of positive emotion just a feeling of emptiness,” Lyubomirsky said.
Not only can being positive improve your mood, it can also develop into a healthy upward spiral.
Lyubomirsky said, "You might be more approachable to others, or be more creative and imaginative. It snowballs, and you are more likely to experience even more positive emotion."
Former president of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Michelle Riba and a psychiatry professor and associate director of the Depression Center at the University of Michigan agreed that staying positive can have a dramatic effect on people's well-being.
"There's a lot of good research that shows these kinds of actions can have a positive impact on life. In general, people who help others stop focusing on their own pains and problems and worries and feel good about themselves. Perhaps it’s the best thing about it is that they can pursue these positive actions on their own.” said Riba.
"Its simple," Lyubomirsky said. "It doesn't involve you going to a doctor. It’s not a replacement, but its a great alternative to therapy or medication."
Researchers are still examining the best ways to pursue and apply a positive thought and action to help treat depression, Lyubomirsky and Riba said.
Those who want to improve their mood by staying positive need to figure out what works best for them. This includes thinking long and hard about the best ways they can help others and remind themselves of the good things in their own lives.
"You have to do work," Lyubomirsky said. "It takes effort to continually remind yourself to do acts of kindness for others, although I think it gets easier over time. You want to vary what you do. You want to do them in optimal ways. You don't want to do the same thing every day. You want to do them at a rate that's optimal to you.”
Positive activity interventions are not the only way to help someone to have a good mood or fight depression. Sun exposure or taking vitamin D supplements can also help depression. Studies linked vitamin D deficiency with increased risk of depression.
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